Antimalarial medicines and molecules geared towards the needs of children

16 Jun 2017

A child dies from malaria every 2 minutes – the vast majority from Africa. This is why the needs of African children are at the heart of MMV’s work. With our partners, we manage more than 65 projects to develop next-generation antimalarials to treat and protect Africa’s next generation. Antimalarials like these save lives. The scale-up of malaria control measures including medicines helped save the lives of more than 5.9 million children under the age of 5 between 2000 and 2015. To mark the International Day of the African Child 2017, we are proud to present the antimalarials MMV and partners have developed for children, as well as the projects we are working on for the future.

  • MMV’s first co-developed medicine, Coartem® Dispersible (artemether-lumefantrine), was a child-friendly formulation developed with Novartis and launched in 2009. Over 300 million treatments have been distributed, making it one of the most widely used quality ACTs for children. It is estimated to have saved 750,000 young lives and counting…

  • In 2010, with MMV’s help, Guilin Pharmaceutical became the first company to receive WHO prequalification for their artesunate injection, Artesun® for the treatment of severe malaria. Since then, 75 million vials have been delivered, and an estimated 450,000–500,000 additional young lives saved compared to treatment with quinine.

  • Rectal artesunate suppositories (RAS), for pre-referral management of severe malaria, are for critically ill children that are unable to take oral medicines. Untreated severe malaria can be fatal. Studies show that for children living 6 or more hours from a health centre where they could receive recommended treatment, RAS can reduce death and disability significantly. With MMV’s support, Cipla became the first manufacturer to receive authorization from the Global Fund for procurement of their RAS product. 

  • In 2015, Pyramax® granules (pyronaridine-artesunate), developed with Shin Poong Pharmaceutical, received a positive scientific opinion under Article 58 from the European Medicines Agency. It became the second quality child-friendly ACT available to malaria-endemic countries. 

  • Traditionally in drug development, medicines are developed for adults before child-friendly versions are pursued. MMV is working to bring the development of paediatric formulations forward. Artefenomel (with Sanofi) is a front-runner candidate for inclusion in a new antimalarial combination with ferroquine. The combination is being specifically formulated for children, potentially for once-daily dosing. 

  • KAF156 (with Novartis) is a novel antimalarial molecule due to enter phase IIb combination studies in 2017 with the antimalarial lumefantrine. As the treatment of children represents the biggest unmet need, once safety is assured, the goal is to begin including them in the clinical trial as quickly as possible.

  • Photo credits:

    Slide 1: Novartis; Slide 2: Anna Wang; Slide 3: Anna Wang; Slide 4: Maud Majeres Lugand/MMV; Slide 5: Maud Majeres Lugand/MMV; Slide 6: Anna Wang